Chapter 3. Configure the fabric - Exam Ref 70-247 Configuring and Deploying a Private Cloud (2014)

Exam Ref 70-247 Configuring and Deploying a Private Cloud

Chapter 3. Configure the fabric

Fabric is the term used to describe a variety of resources that are available to support the private cloud. This includes storage, network, and infrastructure resources. In this chapter you’ll learn about configuring the storage fabric, the network fabric, how to integrate PXE deployment with a VMM server, how to integrate a software update server with VMM, and how to configure virtualization hosts and private clouds.

Objectives in this chapter:

Image Objective 3.1: Configure the storage fabric

Image Objective 3.2: Configure the network fabric

Image Objective 3.3: Configure and manage the deployment and update servers

Image Objective 3.4: Configure clouds and virtualization hosts

Objective 3.1: Configure the storage fabric

This objective deals with managing the storage that VMM can provision to virtualization hosts and virtualization host clusters. This includes coverage of storage classifications, how VMM can use file shares, how you can provision logical units, and create storage pools.


This objective covers the following topics:

Image VMM storage

Image Storage classifications

Image File shares and VMM

Image Storage pools from physical disks

Image Provision storage logical units


Understanding VMM storage

VMM can use local and remote storage, with local storage being storage devices that are directly attached to the server, and remote storage being storage available through a storage area network. VMM can use:

Image File storage VMM can use file shares that support the SMB 3.0 protocol. This protocol is supported by file shares on computers running Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2. Third-party vendors of network-attached storage (NAS) devices also support SMB 3.0..

Image Block storage VMM can use block-level storage devices that host LUNs (logical unit numbers) for storage using either the iSCSI, Serial Attached SCSI (SAS), or Fibre Channel protocols.

VMM supports automatically discovering local and remote storage. This includes automatic discovery of:

Image Storage arrays

Image Storage pools

Image Storage volumes

Image LUNs

Image Disks

Image Virtual disks

Using VMM, you can create new storage from capacity discovered by VMM and assign that storage to a Hyper-V virtualization host or host cluster. You can use VMM to provision storage to Hyper-V virtualization hosts, or host clusters using the following methods:

Image From available capacity Allows you to create storage volumes or LUNs from an existing storage pool.

Image From writable snapshot of a virtual disk VMM supports creating storage from writable snapshots of existing virtual disks.

Image From a clone of a virtual disk You can provision storage by creating a copy of a virtual disk. This uses storage space less efficiently than creating storage from snapshots.

Image From SMB 3.0 file shares You can provision storage from SMB 3.0 file shares.

VMM supports the creation of a thin provisioned logical unit on a storage pool. This allows you to allocate a greater amount of capacity than is currently available in the pool and is only possible when:

Image The storage array supports thin provisioning.

Image The storage administrator has enabled thin provisioning for the storage pool.


More Info: Storage in VMM

You can learn more about storage in VMM at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg610600.aspx.


Understanding storage classifications

Storage classifications allow you to assign a metadata label to a type of storage. For example, you might name a classification used with a storage pool that consists of solid state disks as Alpha, a classification used with Fibre Channel RAID 5 SAS storage as Beta, and iSCSI SATA RAID 5 as Gamma. The labels that you use should be appropriate to your environment. Some organizations use the labels Gold, Silver, and Bronze, but the drawback of this approach is that it makes it challenging to add additional meaningful classifications. For example, while possible you could add Platinum storage, you’d have to start getting creative in naming a classification that was better than Platinum. The more creative you get, the less comprehensible your storage classifications will be to other people. Generally you classify based on speed and reliability, with expensive high speed reliable storage getting a higher classification.

To configure storage classifications in VMM, perform the following steps:

1. In the Fabric workspace of the VMM console, click Classifications And Pools under the Storage node.

2. On the VMM console ribbon, click Create Storage Classification.

3. In the New Classification dialog box, provide a name and a description for the storage classification. Figure 3-1 shows the new classification Alpha for Solid State Disks.

Image

FIGURE 3-1 New classification


More Info: Storage Classifications

You can learn more about storage classifications at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg610685.aspx.


Understanding file shares and VMM

You can add a remote file server as a storage device in VMM. To perform this action requires that you have an account that is a member of the Administrator or the Delegated Administrator user role. You must also have a Run As account configured that has administrative permissions on the file server.

To add the remote file server to VMM as a storage device, perform the following steps:

1. In the Fabric workspace of the VMM console, select File Servers under the Storage node.

2. On the VMM console ribbon, click Add Resources, and then click Storage Devices.

3. On the Select A Storage Provider Type page, select Windows-Based File Server, as shown in Figure 3-2.

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FIGURE 3-2 Add Storage Devices Wizard

4. On the Specify Discovery Scope page, provide the IP address or FQDN of the file server. Specify whether the server is in an untrusted Active Directory domain, and choose a Run As account that has local Administrator privileges on the target computer. Figure 3-3 shows a connection to the server MEL-STORAGE.adatum.internal using the Administrator Run As account.

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FIGURE 3-3 Specify discovery scope

5. VMM will then scan the targeted server and discover information about it, as shown in Figure 3-4.

Image

FIGURE 3-4 Discover storage device information

6. On the Select Storage Devices page, select the storage device that you want to add, and provide a classification. Figure 3-5 shows the storage device FILESHARE assigned the classification Delta.

Image

FIGURE 3-5 Select storage devices

7. Complete the wizard to add the storage. The storage will now be visible within the VMM console, as shown in Figure 3-6.

Image

FIGURE 3-6 Storage in VMM console


More Info: Adding File Shares in VMM

You can learn more about adding file shares in VMM at http http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj860437.aspx.


To assign file share storage to a Hyper-V virtualization host, perform the following steps:

1. In the Fabric workspace, click All Hosts under Servers, and select the Hyper-V virtualization host to which you want to allocate the file server storage.

2. On the VMM console ribbon, click Properties.

3. On the Host Access tab of the virtualization host’s properties, specify a Run As account that has local Administrator access on the file server that you want to provision as storage for the virtualization host. Figure 3-7 shows this set to the Administrator Run As account.

Image

FIGURE 3-7 Host access

4. On the Storage tab of the virtualization host’s properties, click Add, and then click Add File Share.

5. On the File Share Path drop-down, specify the file share that you want to provision to the virtualization host. Figure 3-8 shows the File Share Path \\MEL-STORAGE.adatum.internal\FILESHARE.

Image

FIGURE 3-8 Adding the Storage file share

6. Click OK to provision the storage.


More Info: Assign Storage to Hosts

You can learn more about assigning storage to hosts at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj614620.aspx.


Creating storage pools from physical disks

You can create storage pools from physical disks attached to Scale-Out File Servers. To accomplish this, you’ll need to have added the Scale-Out File Server, as shown in Figure 3-9.

Image

FIGURE 3-9 Select storage devices

To create the new storage pools, perform the following steps:

1. In the Fabric pane of the VMM console, select the Scale-Out File Server in the list of file servers.

2. On the VMM console ribbon, click Manage Pools.

3. On the Storage Pools dialog box, click New.

4. In the Create Storage Pool dialog box, provide a Pool Name and Classification, and click Create.


More Info: Provisioning Storage Logical Units

You can learn more about provisioning storage logical units at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg696973.aspx.


Provisioning storage logical units

To provision logical units in VMM, and then assign them to a host group, perform the following steps:

1. In the Fabric workspace of the VMM console, right-click Classification And Pools, and click Create Logical Unit.

2. In the Create Logical Unit dialog box, provide the following information:

Image In the Storage Pool list, select the storage pool you will use.

Image In the Name text box, provide a name for the logical unit.

Image In the Size (GB) box, provide the size of the logical unit in gigabytes.

3. On the Home tab of the VMM console ribbon, click Allocate Capacity.

4. In the Allocate Storage Capacity dialog box, specify the host group that you want to allocate storage to, and the storage pools and logical units that you want to allocate to that host group.


Image Thought experiment: Storage at Tailspin Toys

In this thought experiment, apply what you’ve learned about this objective. You can find answers to these questions in the “Answers” section at the end of this chapter.

You are preparing a schema to classify storage that will be used with your organization’s VMM deployment. You have tested the performance of the available storage and want to use this as the basis for the classification scheme.

In order from highest to lowest performance these are:

Image Directly attached solid-state disk array

Image Fibre Channel RAID 5 SAS

Image Mirrored iSCSI storage

Image SMB 3.0 file share storage

With this information in mind, answer the following questions:

1. What classification could you create to apply to the solid-state disk array?

2. What classification could you create to apply to the Fibre Channel RAID 5 SAS storage?

3. What classification could you create to apply to the SMB 3.0 file share storage?

4. If higher performance storage became available for use with VMM, what classification could you create to apply to that storage?


Objective summary

Image VMM can use file storage on SMB 3.0 file shares or block-level storage devices that host LUNS.

Image Using VMM, you can create new storage from capacity discovered by VMM and assign that storage to a Hyper-V virtualization host or host cluster.

Image VMM supports the creation of a thin provisioned logical unit on a storage pool.

Image Storage classifications allow you to assign a metadata label to a type of storage.

Image You can add a remote file server as a storage device in VMM.

Image You can create storage pools from physical disks attached to Scale-Out File Servers.

Objective review

Answer the following questions to test your knowledge of the information in this objective. You can find the answers to these questions and explanations of why each answer choice is correct or incorrect in the “Answers” section at the end of this chapter.

1. You are creating a private cloud test environment. You have yet to deploy any storage area network appliances or Scale-Out File Servers. Given these constraints, from which of the following sources can you use VMM to provision storage to Hyper-V virtualization hosts? (choose the best answer)

A. Available capacity

B. Writable snapshot of a virtual disk

C. Clone of virtual disk

D. SMB 3.0 file shares

2. Which of the following operating systems can provide file share storage that can be provisioned to virtualization hosts through VMM?

A. Windows Server 2012 R2

B. Windows Server 2008 R2

C. Windows Server 2003

D. Windows Server 2012

3. Which of the following conditions exist on creating thin provisioned logical units on a storage pool?

A. Storage array must support for SMB 3.0.

B. Storage array supports thin provisioning.

C. Storage Administrator must have enabled thin provisioning.

D. Storage Administrator must have enabled cluster shared volumes.

Objective 3.2: Configure the network fabric

This objective deals with how you can use VMM to manage network resources. It covers the different types of network resources that VMM can manage, and how these interrelate with each other.


This objective covers the following topics:

Image VMM logical networks

Image Logical switches

Image Network virtualization

Image Virtual machine networks

Image MAC address pools

Image Static IP address pools

Image Private VLANs

Image Windows Server Gateway


Understanding VMM logical networks

A VMM logical network is a collection of network sites, VLAN information, and IP subnet information. A VMM deployment needs to have at least one logical network before you can use it to deploy VMs or services. When you add a Hyper-V based virtualization host to VMM, one of the following happens:

Image If the physical adapter is associated with an existing logical network, it remains associated with that network once added to VMM.

Image If the physical adapter is not already associated with a logical network, VMM will create a new logical network, associating it with the physical adapter’s DNS suffix.

To create a logical network, perform the following steps:

1. In the Fabric workspace of the VMM console, click Logical Network under the Networking node.

2. On the ribbon of the VMM console, click Create Logical Network.

3. On the Name page of the Create Logical Network Wizard, shown in Figure 3-10, provide a name, and select one of the following options:

Image One Connected Network Choose this option when network sites that comprise this network can route traffic to each other and you can use this logical network as a single connected network. You have the additional option of allowing VM networks created on this logical network to use network virtualization. You can also select the option of having VMM automatically create.

Image VLAN-Based Independent Networks The sites in this logical network are independent networks. The network sites that comprise this network can, but do not require, the ability to route traffic to each other.

Image Private VLAN (PVLAN) Networks Choose this option when you want network sites within the logical network to be isolated independent networks.

Image

FIGURE 3-10 Network name

4. On the Network Sites page you can configure which network sites are associated with the logical network.

You can create network sites after (or during if using the Create Logical Network Wizard) you have created a VMM logical network. You use network sites to associate IP subnets, VLANs, and PVLANs with a VMM logical network.

To create a network site, perform the following steps:

1. In the Logical Networks node of the Fabric workspace of the VMM console, select the VMM logical network that will host the network site.

2. On the VMM console ribbon, click Properties.

3. On the Network Site page of the Logical Network Properties dialog box, click Add. As Figure 3-11 shows, this will create a new network site and will enable you to specify which host groups can use the network site and allow you to add VLANs and IP subnets to the site.

Image

FIGURE 3-11 Network site


More Info: VMM Logical Network

You can learn more about VMM logical networks at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj721568.aspx.


Applying logical switches

VMM logical switches store network adapter configuration settings for use with VMM managed virtualization hosts. You configure the properties of one or more virtualization host’s network adapters by applying the logical switch configuration information.

You should perform the following tasks before creating a logical switch:

Image Create logical networks and define network sites.

Image Install the providers for any Hyper-V extensible virtual switch extensions.

Image Create any required native port profiles for virtual adapters that you will use to define port settings for the native Hyper-V virtual switch.

When you configure a VMM logical switch, you configure the following:

Image Extensions

Image Uplinks

Image Virtual Ports

Extensions

You use logical switch extensions to configure how the logical switch interacts with network traffic. VMM includes the following switch extensions:

Image Monitoring Allows the logical switch to monitor, but not modify, network traffic.

Image Capturing Allows the logical switch to inspect, but not modify, network traffic.

Image Filtering Allows the logical switch to modify, defragment, or block packets.

Image Forwarding Allows the logical switch to alter the destination of network traffic based on the properties of that traffic.

In Figure 3-12, you can see that the Microsoft Windows Filtering Platform virtual switch extension is selected by default when you create a logical switch.

Image

FIGURE 3-12 Logical switch Extension

Uplink port profiles

Uplink port profiles specify which set of logical networks should be associated with physical network adapters. In the event that there are multiple network adapters on a virtualization host, an uplink port profile specifies whether and how those adapters should participate in teaming. Teaming allows network adapters to aggregate bandwidth and provide redundancy for network connections. Figure 3-13 shows the Uplink page of the Create Logical Switch Wizard.

Image

FIGURE 3-13 Uplink

Virtual port profiles

You use port profile classifications to apply configurations based on functionality. VMM includes the following port classifications shown in Figure 3-14.

Image

FIGURE 3-14 Port profiles

Image SR-IOV Allows a virtual network adapter to use SR-IOV (Single Root Input Output Virtualization).

Image Host Management For network adapters used to manage the virtualization host using RDP, PowerShell, or another management technology.

Image Network Load Balancing Used with network adapters that participate in Microsoft Network Load Balancing.

Image Guest Dynamic IP Used with network adapters that require guest dynamic IP addresses such as those provided by DHCP.

Image Live Migration Workload Used with network adapters that support VM live migration workloads between virtualization hosts.

Image Medium Bandwidth Assign to network adapters that need to support medium bandwidth workloads.

Image Host Cluster Workload Assign to network adapters that are used to support host clusters.

Image Low Bandwidth Assign to network adapters that need to support low bandwidth workloads.

Image High Bandwidth Assign to network adapters that are used to support high bandwidth workloads.

Image iSCSI Workload Assign to network adapters that are used to connect to SAN resources using the iSCSI protocol.


More Info: Port Profiles and Logical Switches

You can learn more about port profiles and logical switches at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj721570.aspx.


Network virtualization

You can use network virtualization to configure logical networks in such a manner that different VM tenants can utilize the same IP address space on the same virtualization host without collisions occurring. For example, tenant alpha and tenant beta use the 172.16.10.x address space when their workloads are hosted on the same virtualization host cluster. Even though tenant alpha and tenant beta have virtual machines that use the same IPv4 address, network virtualization ensures that conflicts do not occur.

When you configure network virtualization, each network adapter is assigned two IP addresses.

Image Customer IP address This IP address is the one used by the customer. The customer IP address is the address visible within the VM when you run a command such as ipconfig or Get-NetIPConfiguration.

Image Provider IP address This IP address is used by and is visible to VMM. It is not visible within the VM operating system.

You can enable network virtualization when you create a VMM logical network and select the Allow New VM Networks Created On This Logical Network to use network virtualization on the Name page of the Create New Logical Network Wizard, as shown in Figure 3-15.

Image

FIGURE 3-15 Logical network name


More Info: Network Virtualization

You can learn more about network virtualization at http://blogs.technet.com/b/scvmm/archive/2013/11/27/adopting-network-virtualization-part-ii.aspx.


Virtual machine networks

In VMM, virtual machines connect to a VMM logical network through a VMM virtual machine network. You connect a virtual machine’s network adapter to the virtual machine network rather than the logical network. You can have VMM automatically create an associated virtual machine network when you create a logical network. If you have configured a logical network to support network virtualization, you can connect multiple VM networks to the logical network and they will be isolated from each other.

To create a virtual machine network, perform the following steps:

1. In the Fabric workspace of the VMM console, click Logical Networks under Networking.

2. On the VMM console ribbon, click Create VM Network.

3. On the Name page of the Create VM Network Wizard, provide a name, and specify a logical network. Figure 3-16 shows the creation of a new network named Adatum Virtual Machine Network that connects to the logical network named Adatum Logical Network.

Image

FIGURE 3-16 VM network name


More Info: Virtual Machine Networks

You can learn more about virtual machine networks at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj983727.aspx.


Understanding MAC address pools

A MAC address pool gives you a pool of MAC addresses that can be assigned to virtual machine network adapters across a group of virtualization hosts. Without MAC address pools, virtual machines are assigned MAC addresses on a per-virtualization host basis. While unlikely, it is possible that in environments with a very large number of virtualization hosts, that the same MAC address may be assigned by separate virtualization hosts. Using a central MAC address pool ensures that doesn’t happen.

When creating a MAC address pool, you specify a starting and an ending MAC address range. Figure 3-17 shows the MAC address range in the default VMM MAC address pool.

Image

FIGURE 3-17 MAC address range


More Info: MAC Address Pools

You can learn more about MAC address pools at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg610632.aspx.


Creating static IP address pools

An IP address pool is a collection of IP addresses that, through an IP subnet, is associated with a network site. VMM can assign IP addresses from the static IP address pool to virtual machines running Windows operating systems if those virtual machines use the logical network associated with the pool. Static IP address pools can contain default gateway, DNS server, and WINS server information. Static IP address pools aren’t necessary as VMs can be assigned IP address information from DHCP servers running on the network.

To create a static IP address pool, perform the following steps.

1. In the Fabric workspace of the VMM console, click Create IP Pool on the console ribbon.

2. On the Name page of the Create Static IP Address Pool Wizard, provide a name for the IP address pool and specify the logical network with which the pool will be associated. Figure 3-18 shows the IP address pool named Adatum IP Address Pool Alpha associated with the logical network Adatum Logical Network.

Image

FIGURE 3-18 Adatum IP Address Pool Alpha

3. On the Network Site page, select whether you want to use an existing network site and an associated IP subnet, or to create a new site. Figure 3-19 shows selection of the Adatum Logical Network_0 network site, which is configured with the IP subnet 172.16.10.0/24. This subnet will define the range of the IP address pool.

Image

FIGURE 3-19 Network site

4. On the IP Address range page, specify the starting and ending IP address ranges. You can also specify the IP addresses to be reserved for load balances and other uses. Figure 3-20 shows the IP address range starting at 172.16.10.50 and ending at 172.16.10.254, with IP addresses between 172.16.10.50 and 172.16.10.60 reserved for load balancer VIPs and IP addresses between 172.16.10.61 and 172.16.10.80 reserved for other uses.

Image

FIGURE 3-20 IP address range

5. On the Gateway page, you can add gateway address information. Figure 3-21 shows the Gateway Address 172.16.10.1 configured.

Image

FIGURE 3-21 Gateway address

6. On the DHS page, you can specify the address of DNS servers and any DNS suffixes that should be used when applying IP address configuration to virtual machines. Figure 3-22 shows a DNS server address of 172.16.0.10, and a DNS Suffix of Adatum.internal.

Image

FIGURE 3-22 DNS

7. If your organization is still using WINS, you can enter the address of any WINS servers on the WINS page of the Create Static IP Address Pool Wizard.

8. Complete the wizard to create the static IP address pool.


More Info: IP Address Pools

You can learn more about IP address pools at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg610590.aspx.


Implementing private VLANS

VLANs segment network traffic by adding tags to packets. A VLAN ID is a 12-bit number, allowing you to configure VLAN IDS between the numbers 1 and 4095. While this is more than adequate for the majority of on premises deployments, large hosting providers often have more than 5000 clients, so have to use an alternate method to segment network traffic. A PVLAN is an extension to VLANS that uses a secondary VLAN ID with the original VLAN ID to segment a VLAN into isolated sub networks.

You can implement VLANs and PVLANs in VMM by creating a logical network of the Private VLAN type, as shown in Figure 3-23.

Image

FIGURE 3-23 PVLAN network

When you create a logical network of this type you have the option, when adding a network site, of specifying the VLAN and/or PVLAN ID as well as the IPv4 or IPv6 network as shown in Figure 3-24.

Image

FIGURE 3-24 PVLAN settings


More Info: PVLANs

You can learn more about PVLANs at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj679878.aspx#bkmk_pvlan.


Windows Server Gateway

A Windows Server Gateway is a specially prepared VM running Windows that functions as a virtual router or performs network address translation and allows the routing or translation of traffic between virtual machine networks. This VM usually routes traffic from external networks, such as the Internet, through to internal networks that are only used by VMs. The VM that functions as the Windows Server Gateway will be connected to multiple network adapters, each of which will be connected to a separate network.

To deploy a Windows Server Gateway, perform the following high-level steps:

1. Install the Remote Access role on the VM that will function as the Windows Server Gateway. Include the Direct Access and VPN (RAS) and Routing role services.

2. On the Hyper-V virtualization host that will host the Windows Server Gateway virtual machine:

Image Enable multi-tenancy mode for the virtual machine network adapter. You can do this using the Set-VMNetworkAdapterIsolation Windows PowerShell cmdlet.

Image Add the tenant routing domains and virtual subnets to the adapter using the Add-VmNetworkAdapterRoutingDomain Windows PowerShell cmdlet.

Image Configure network virtualization settings with the New-NetVirtualizationProviderAddress, New-NetVirtualizationLookupRecord, and NewNetVirtualizationCustomerRoute Windows PowerShell cmdlets.

3. On the Windows Server Gateway virtual machine, configure IP address and network routes for each tenant network.

4. On other Hyper-V hosts that will host tenant virtual machines that the Windows Server Gateway virtual machine will route traffic to, configure network virtualization using the New-NetVirtualizationProviderAddress, New-NetVirtualizationLookupRecord, and New-NetVirtualizationCustomerRoute Windows PowerShell cmdlets.

5. In the VMM console, add the Gateway in the Network Service section of the Fabric workspace.


More Info: Windows Server Gateway

You can learn more about Windows Server Gateway at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn313101.aspx.



Image Exam Tip

Remember that virtual machines connect to a logical network through a virtual machine network.



Image Thought experiment: Multiple tenants at Contoso

In this thought experiment, apply what you’ve learned about this objective. You can find answers to these questions in the “Answers” section at the end of this chapter.

You work at a medium sized hosting provider. You have two 64 node failover clusters that will host client virtual machines. You want to allow clients to use their own address space. This may in some cases mean that VMs from different tenants use the same local IP address. Organizations should be able to connect from their remote sites through to the VMs hosted on the failover clusters. With this information in mind, answer the following questions:

1. Which networking technology would you implement to meet requirements

2. What should you deploy to allow access from remote client sites each organization’s virtual machines?


Objective summary

Image A VMM logical network is a collection of network sites, VLAN information, and IP subnet information.

Image A VMM deployment needs to have at least one logical network before you can use it to deploy VMs or services.

Image VMM logical switches store network adapter configuration settings for use with VMM managed virtualization hosts.

Image You use logical switch extensions to configure how the logical switch interacts with network traffic.

Image Uplink port profiles specify which set of logical networks should be associated with physical network adapters.

Image In the event that there are multiple network adapters on a virtualization host, an uplink port profile specifies whether and how those adapters should participate in teaming.

Image You use port classifications to apply configurations based on functionality.

Image You can use network virtualization to configure logical networks in such a manner that different VM tenants can utilize the same IP address space on the same virtualization host without collisions occurring.

Image Virtual machines connect to a VMM logical network through a VMM virtual machine network.

Image A MAC address pool gives you a pool of MAC addresses that can be assigned to virtual machine network adapters across a group of virtualization hosts.

Image An IP address pool is a collection of IP addresses that, through an IP subnet, is associated with a network site.

Image A PVLAN is an extension to VLANS that uses a secondary VLAN ID with the original VLAN ID to segment a VLAN into isolated sub networks.

Image A Windows Server Gateway is a specially prepared VM running Windows that functions as a virtual router or performs network address translation and allows the routing or translation of traffic between virtual machine networks.

Objective review

Answer the following questions to test your knowledge of the information in this objective. You can find the answers to these questions and explanations of why each answer choice is correct or incorrect in the “Answers” section at the end of this chapter.

1. To which of the following do you connect a virtual machine network adapter?

A. Logical network

B. Logical switch

C. Virtual machine network

D. MAC address pool

2. You need to create a logical network that will host 5000 separate tenants. Which of the following logical network types should you configure if you want to ensure that virtual machine networks within the logical network are isolated with a minimum of administrative effort? (Choose the best answer.)

A. One connected network

B. VLAN network

C. PVLAN network

D. MAC address pool

3. You have a group of virtualization hosts that contain numerous host clusters that between them, host more a very large number of virtual machines. Which of the following should you configure to assume that the hardware address assigned by VMM to virtual machine network adapters is always unique?

A. MAC address pool

B. Logical network

C. Logical switch

D. Virtual machine network

Objective 3.3: Configure and manage the deployment and update servers

This objective deals with integrating VMM with the Windows Server Update Services and Windows Deployment Services role that are included with the Windows Server operating system.


This objective covers the following topics:

Image Adding a PXE server to VMM

Image Adding a WSUS server to VMM


Adding a PXE server to VMM

In a scalable private cloud, you’ll need to add additional Hyper-V host servers on a frequent basis as either a standalone server or as part of a failover cluster to increase your capacity. While it’s possible to use another technology to deploy new Hyper-V host servers to bare metal, the advantage of integrating virtualization host deployment with VMM is that you can fully automate the process. The process works in the following general manner:

1. Discovery of the chassis occurs. This may be through providing the MAC address of the chassis network adapter to VMM.

2. The chassis performs a PXE boot and locates the Windows Deployment Services (WDS) server that you have integrated with VMM as a managed server role. When you integrate WDS with VMM, the WDS server hosts a VMM provider that will handle PXE traffic from bare metal chassis started using the VMM provisioning tool.

3. The VMM provider on the WDS server queries the VMM server to verify that the bare metal chassis is an authorized target for managed virtualization host deployment.

4. In the event that the bare metal chassis isn’t authorized, WDS will attempt to deploy another OS to the chassis. If that isn’t possible, PXE deployment fails.

5. If the bare metal chassis is authorized, a special Windows PE (Preinstallation Environment) image is transmitted to the bare metal chassis. This special Windows PE image includes a VMM agent that manages the operating system deployment process.

6. Depending on how you configure it, the VMM agent in the Windows PE image can run scripts to update firmware on the bare metal chassis, configure RAID volumes, and prepare local storage.

7. A specially prepared virtual hard disk (in either .vhdx or .vhd format) containing the virtualization host operating system, is copied to the bare metal chassis from a VMM library server.

8. The VMM agent in the Windows PE image configures the bare metal chassis to boot from the newly placed virtual hard disk.

9. The bare metal chassis boots into the virtual hard disk. If necessary, the newly deployed operating system can obtain additional drivers not included in the virtual hard disk from a VMM library server.

10. Post deployment customization of the newly deployed operating system occurs. This includes setting a name for the new host and joining an Active Directory Domain Services domain.

11. The Hyper-V server role is deployed and the newly deployed virtualization host is connected to VMM and placed in a host group.


More Info: Adding PXE Server to VMM

You can learn more about adding a PXE server to VMM at: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg610651.aspx/.


Virtualization host requirements

To be able to configure a bare metal hardware chassis so that it can function as a VMM managed Hyper-V virtualization host, the hardware chassis needs to meet the following requirements:

Image X64 processor that supports hardware assisted virtualization and hardware-enforced Data Execution Prevention (DEP). In some cases, it may be necessary to enable this support in BIOS.

Image PXE boot support. The hardware chassis must be able to PXE boot off a PXE enabled network adapter. The PXE enabled network adapter needs to be configured as a boot device.

Image Out of band (OOB) management support. System Center 2012 R2 VMM is able to discover and manage the power states of hardware chassis that support BMC (Baseboard Management Controller). This version of VMM supports the following protocols:

Image SMASH (Systems Management Architecture for Server Hardware) version 1 over WS-Management

Image DCMI (Datacenter Management Interface) version 1.0

Image IPMI (Microsoft Intelligent Platform Management Interface) version 1.5 or version 2.0

PXE server requirements

The PXE server needs to provide the PXE service through Windows Deployment Services. When you add the VMM agent to an existing Windows Deployment Services server, VMM will only manage the deployment process if the computer making the request is designated as a new virtualization host by VMM.

The PXE server needs to be on the same subnet as the bare metal chassis to which it will deploy the virtualization host operating system.

To configure a PXE server to support VMM, perform the following steps:

1. On the Manage menu of the Server Manager console, click Add Roles And Features.

2. On the Select Installation Type page of the Add Roles And Features Wizard, choose Role-Based Or Feature-Based Installation, as shown in Figure 3-25.

Image

FIGURE 3-25 Installation type

3. On the Server Selection page of the Add Roles And Features Wizard, ensure that the server that you want to deploy the PXE role on is selected.

4. On the Server Roles page, select Windows Deployment Services, as shown in Figure 3-26. On the Add Roles And Features Wizard pop-up that queries you about adding the necessary management tools, click Add Features.

Image

FIGURE 3-26 Windows Deployment Services

5. It is not necessary to select any additional features on the Features page to support a VMM manage PXE server.

6. On the Role Services page of the Add Roles And Features Wizard, ensure that both Deployment Server and Transport Server are selected, as shown in Figure 3-27.

Image

FIGURE 3-27 Role services

7. Complete the wizard to complete the installation of the WDS role.

Once the role has been installed, you’ll need to perform some initial configuration. You can do this by performing the following steps:

1. On the Tools menu of the Server Manager console, click Windows Deployment Services.

2. In the Windows Deployment Services console, select the newly deployed WDS server under the Servers node. On the Action menu, click Configure Server.

3. On the Install Options page, select Integrated With Active Directory, as shown in Figure 3-28.

Image

FIGURE 3-28 Active Directory integration

4. On the Remote Installation Folder Location, accept the default location of C:\RemoteInstall, and click Next. The default location is fine because only the PXE boot and Windows PE images will be transmitted from the WDS server. The operating system image for the virtualization host will be copied from a VMM Library server.

5. If you have co-located WDS on a server that also hosts the DHCP server role, you’ll need to ensure that both the Do Not Listen On DHCP And DHCPv6 Ports and Configure DHCP Options For Proxy DHCP are selected, as shown in Figure 3-29.

Image

FIGURE 3-29 DHCP settings

6. On the PXE Server Initial Settings page, select Respond Only To Known Client Computers, as shown in Figure 3-30

Image

FIGURE 3-30 PXE response settings

7. Ensure that WDS starts before attempting to integrate the WDS server with VMM.

Integrating the WDS server with VMM

To integrate the WDS server with VMM to function as the VMM PXE server, you need to use an account on the VMM server that is a member of the local Administrators group on the WDS server.

To add an existing PXE server to VMM, perform the following steps:

1. In the Fabric workspace of the VMM console, expand the Infrastructure node, and select PXE Servers.

2. On the VMM console ribbon, click Add Resources, and then click PXE Server.

3. On the Add PXE Server dialog box, provide the computer name and the credentials used to connect to the WDS server to install the VMM agent. Figure 3-31 shows the computer name set to MEL-DHCP-PXE, and the credentials of the Adatum\administrator account.

Image

FIGURE 3-31 Setting the PXE server name and credentials

4. When the PXE server has been added, it will be visible in the VMM console in the PXE Servers node, as shown in Figure 3-32.

Image

FIGURE 3-32 PXE server

Physical computer profile

The physical computer profile is the VMM profile used to deploy the operating system to the bare metal chassis. The prerequisites for the physical computer profile must be present within the VMM library. These prerequisites include:

Image Prepared Windows Server 2012 R2 Virtual Hard Disk File You need to have a Sysprepped virtual hard disk, in .vhd or .vhdx format present in the VMM library. This virtual hard disk will be transmitted to the bare metal chassis during virtualization host deployment.

Image Device drivers Any custom device drivers that you haven’t included in the Sysprepped virtual hard disk file must be added to VMM.

Image DHCP server or static IP address During profile deployment, the bare metal chassis will need an IP address. This can be obtained from a DHCP server. The alternative is to use an IP address from an existing VMM logical network. If you choose to use a VMM logical network, a network site, IP subnet, and static IP pool must already exist on the VMM server.

Image Run As account A Run As account is required to join the newly deployed virtualization host to the Active Directory Domain.

Image Networking The logical switch and VM network used when creating the Physical Profile must be available.

To create a physical computer profile, perform the following steps:

1. In the Library workspace of the VMM console, select Physical Computer Profiles under Profiles.

2. On the ribbon click Create, and then click Physical Computer Profile.

3. On the Profile Description page, provide a name for the profile, and ensure that the Role is set to VM Host, as shown in Figure 3-33.

Image

FIGURE 3-33 Profile description

4. On the OS Image page, select the prepared virtual hard disk. This virtual hard disk must already be present within the VMM library. Figure 3-34 shows a selected virtual hard disk.

Image

FIGURE 3-34 OS image

5. On the Hardware Configuration page, shown in Figure 3-35, configure the following settings:

Image Management NIC You can choose to have the virtualization host obtain an IP address from DHCP, or from an existing VMM logical network.

Image Disk Configure a partition scheme for the first disk. Select between MBR and GUID. You can only use GUID for hardware chassis that use UEFI.

Image OS Allows you to specify the partition configuration of the operating system partition. Includes the volume label, partition type, whether to allocate a specific amount of space, and whether to configure the OS partition as the boot partition.

Image Driver Filter Use this setting to configure between whether you will filter drivers with matching PnP IDs, or filter drivers based on matching tags.

Image

FIGURE 3-35 Hardware configuration

6. On the OS Configuration page, shown in Figure 3-36, you specify the following information:

Image Domain The domain that you want the virtualization host to join after deployment. You also need to specify a Run As account with the necessary permissions to perform this operation.

Image Admin Password The password of the local Administrator account.

Image Product Key A product key in the event you aren’t using a solution like Key Management Services or Active Directory based activation.

Image Time Zone Time zone that the virtualization host will be configured to use.

Image Answer File Any answer file that will be used as part of the deployment.

Image [GUIRunOnce] Command Any commands that should be run once after initial deployment is complete.

Image

FIGURE 3-36 OS Configuration

7. On the Host Settings page, specify the placement paths to be used for virtual machines on the host. If you don’t specify a path, VMM will determine the best location on the virtualization host.

Adding an WSUS server to VMM

Integrating WSUS with VMM allows you to use VMM to manage updates for computers that host VMM resources, including VMM management servers, library servers, PXE servers, as well as Hyper-V hosts and Hyper-V host clusters. By integrating VMM with WSUS, you can:

Image Collect updates together in baselines

Image Determine update compliance

Image Remediate update compliance

Image Automatically evacuate VMs from host cluster nodes that require a reboot to install updates.

WSUS server prerequisites

You can use a WSUS server running WSUS 3.0 SP2, which you can install on computers running the Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system, or WSUS 4.0, which is included as a role service for computers that have the Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 operating systems. While you could deploy the WSUS role on the computer that hosts VMM, Microsoft recommends that you deploy WSUS on a separate computer. This will separate the workloads, ensuring that they don’t conflict with each other.

Prior to integrating WSUS with VMM, you should install the WSUS role and run the WSUS Configuration Wizard to perform preliminary WSUS configuration. You should also perform synchronization. When running run the WSUS Configuration Wizard and performing synchronization, use the default settings unless you have an on-premises WSUS server that you want to use as an upstream server. If using an on-premises upstream server, remember that you’ll be limited to the updates and classifications that are present on that server.

Although integrating WSUS with VMM doesn’t preclude you from also integrating the same WSUS server with Configuration Manager, it’s a better idea to keep the WSUS server used for updating non-VMM computers in your organization separate from the WSUS server managed by VMM.

Integrating WSUS and VMM

Integrating WSUS with VMM allows the VMM server to take control of the WSUS server. Once you have integrated WSUS with VMM, you should manage updates using VMM rather than the WSUS console.

To integrate WSUS with VMM, perform the following steps:

1. In the Fabric workspace of the VMM console, click the Update Server Node under Infrastructure, as shown in Figure 3-37.

Image

FIGURE 3-37 Update Server

2. On the Ribbon, click Add Resources, and then click Update Server. This will launch the Add Windows Server Update Services Server dialog box.

3. In the Add Windows Server Update Services Server dialog box, provide the following information, as shown in Figure 3-38, and then click Add.

Image Computer Name The FQDN of the WSUS server.

Image TCP Port The WSUS server’s TCP port. By default, this is port 8530 (or port 8531 if using SSL) when you deploy WSUS on computers running Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012 R2.

Image Credentials An account with local Administrator privileges on the WSUS server. You can also use a Run As account for this task.

Image

FIGURE 3-38 Add Update Server

4. Once the installation completes, verify that the update server is listed when the Update Server node is selected. The Agent Status is set to Responding, and Synchronization Result is listed as Succeeded, as shown in Figure 3-39.

Image

FIGURE 3-39 Update Server

5. To check which updates are available, in the Library workspace, select Update Catalog under Update Catalog And Baselines, and verify that updates are listed, as shown in Figure 3-40.

Image

FIGURE 3-40 Update list

After you perform the initial synchronization between VMM and the WSUS server to gather the current list of available updates, VMM will not perform subsequent synchronizations automatically. This means that you need to either perform them manually, or configure a scheduled task using the Start-SCUpdateServerSynchronization Windows PowerShell cmdlet. To trigger a synchronization using the VMM console, perform the following steps:

1. In the Fabric workspace of the VMM console, select Update Server under the Servers\Infrastructure node.

2. Select the WSUS server that you want VMM to synchronize.

3. On the ribbon, click the Synchronize icon.

To trigger synchronization from the Virtual Machine Manager Command Shell, issue the following command, where WSUSServerName is the name of the WSUS server.

SCUpdateServerSynchronization WSUSServerName


More Info: Integrating WSUS with VMM

You can learn more about integrating WSUS with VMM at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg675099.aspx.



Image Exam Tip

Remember the permissions required to integrate WSUS with VMM.



Image Thought experiment: WSUS and VMM integration at Adatum

You are preparing the integration of WSUS and VMM at Adatum. You have deployed a new WSUS installation on a computer named MEL-WSUS.adatum.internal by using the Windows PowerShell command:

install-windowsfeature UpdateServices –IncludeAllSubFeature
-IncludeManagementTools

You are researching additional steps that you must take. With this in mind, you need answers to the following questions before you can proceed:

1. What steps must you take on MEL-WSUS.adatum.internal before attempting integration from VMM?

2. What permissions must the Run As account used to integrate the WSUS server with VMM have on MEL-WSUS.adatum.internal?


Objective summary

Image The advantage of integrating virtualization host deployment with VMM is that you can fully automate the process of deploying a VMM managed virtualization host to bare metal.

Image When you integrate WDS with VMM, the WDS server hosts a VMM provider that will handle PXE traffic from bare metal chassis started using the VMM provisioning tool.

Image During deployment, a specially prepared virtual hard disk containing the virtualization host operating system is copied to the bare metal chassis from a VMM library server.

Image The PXE server needs to provide the PXE service through Windows Deployment Services.

Image To integrate the WDS server with VMM to function as the VMM PXE server, you need to use an account on the VMM server that is a member of the local Administrators group on the WDS server.

Image The physical computer profile is the VMM profile used to deploy the operating system to the bare metal chassis.

Image Integrating WSUS with VMM allows you to use VMM to manage updates for computers that host VMM resources, including VMM management servers, library servers, PXE servers, as well as Hyper-V hosts, and Hyper-V host clusters.

Objective review

Answer the following questions to test your knowledge of the information in this objective. You can find the answers to these questions and explanations of why each answer choice is correct or incorrect in the “Answers” section at the end of this chapter.

1. Which of the following must you create before you can use a PXE server integrated with VMM to deploy an operating system to a bare metal chassis to so that it can be used as a VMM managed virtualization host?

A. Capability profile

B. Guest OS profile

C. Hardware profile

D. Physical computer profile

2. Which port does a WSUS server deployed on Windows Server 2012 R2 use by default if configured to use SSL?

A. 80

B. 443

C. 8530

D. 8531

3. Which of the following must you have deployed to a VMM library server when configuring a physical computer profile?

A. PXE boot image in WIM format

B. Capture image in WIM format

C. Sysprepped operating system image in WIM format

D. Sysprepped operating system image in VHD or VHDX format

Objective 3.4: Configure clouds and virtualization hosts

Virtualization hosts, running Hyper-V or a supported third-party virtualization solution, are the bread and butter of a private cloud fabric. While storage and network resources are obviously required, the foundation of any cloud deployment is the ability to virtualize workloads.


This objective covers the following topics:

Image VMM host groups

Image VMM private clouds


Creating VMM host groups

Host groups allow you to simplify the management of virtualization hosts by allowing you to apply the same settings across multiple hosts. VMM includes the All Hosts group by default. You can create additional host groups as required in a hierarchical structure. Child host groups inherit settings from the parent host group. However, if you move a child host group to a new host group, the child host group will retain its original settings with the exception of any PRO configuration. When you configure changes to a parent host group, VMM will provide a dialog box asking if you would like to apply the changed settings to child host groups.

To create a host group, perform the following steps:

1. In the Fabric workspace of the VMM console, click the All Hosts node under Servers.

2. On the Folders tab of the VMM console ribbon, click Create Host Group.

3. Provide the new host group name.

To move a virtualization host to a new host group, perform the following steps:

1. In the Fabric workspace of the VMM console, click the All Hosts node under Servers, and then click on the virtualization host that you want to move to a new host group.

2. On the Host tab of the VMM console ribbon, click Move To Host Group.

3. In the Move Host Group dialog box, shown in Figure 3-41, specify the new parent host group, and click OK.

Image

FIGURE 3-41 Move host group


More Info: VMM Host Groups

You can learn more about VMM host groups at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-au/library/gg610645.aspx.


Placement rules

Placement rules allow you to configure how VMM identifies a suitable host for a VM deployment. Usually this is based on the available resources on the virtualization host or the host cluster. By configuring host group placement rules, you can create rules that dictate the conditions under which a new VM can be placed on a virtualization host in the host group.

To add a placement rule, edit the properties of the host group, and on the placement tab click Add. You then specify a custom property, and one of the following requirements:

Image Virtual Machine Must Match Host

Image Virtual Machine Should Match Host

Image Virtual Machine Must Not Match Host

Image Virtual Machine Should Not Match Host

Host reserves

Host reserves allow you to configure the resources that VMM should set aside for the host operating system. When VMM is going to place a new VM on a host, that host must be able to meet the VM’s resource requirements without exceeding the configured host reserves. As Figure 3-42shows, you can configure host reserves for:

Image CPU

Image Memory

Image Disk I/O

Image Disk Space

Image Network I/O

Image

FIGURE 3-42 Host reserves

Dynamic optimization

Dynamic optimization allows virtualization host clusters to balance workloads by transferring VMs between nodes according to the settings configured at the host group level. Whether or not the transfer occurs depends on whether the hardware resources on a node in the virtualization host cluster fall below the configured settings shown in Figure 3-43. Dynamic optimization only applies to clustered virtualization hosts and does not apply hosts that are not members of a cluster.

Image

FIGURE 3-43 Dynamic optimization

Host group networks

Host group networks show the networks that are assigned to the host group. These resources include IP address pools, load balances, logical networks, and MAC address pools. Figure 3-44 shows the Network tab of the host group properties dialog box.

Image

FIGURE 3-44 Network

Host group storage

Through host group storage, you can allocate logical units or storage pools that are accessible to the VMM server to a specific host group. Figure 3-45 shows the Storage tab of the Host Group Properties dialog box.

Image

FIGURE 3-45 Storage


More Info: Host Group Properties

You can learn more about host group properties at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh335101.aspx.


Understanding VMM private clouds

In VMM, the basis of a private cloud includes resources from Hyper-V hosts, VMware ESX hosts, and Citrix XenServer host, or, alternatively, a VMware resource pool. A private cloud can also include logical networks, load balancers, VIP templates, port classifications, storage, VMM libraries, capacity settings, and capability profiles.

A VMM private cloud provides the following to an organization:

Image Self-service You can delegate management of a private cloud to self-service users.

Image Resource pooling The private cloud allows you to present a collection of resources, utilization of which can be mediated through the imposition of user role quotas.

Image Opacity Private cloud users are unaware of the underlying resources, which are managed by VMM administrators.

Image Elasticity VMM administrators can add resources to increase the capacity of a private cloud.

Image Optimization VMM administrators can optimize the private cloud’s underlying resources on an ongoing basis without adversely affecting the private cloud user experience.

To create a private cloud, perform the following steps:

1. In the VMs And Services workspace of the VMM console, click Clouds.

2. On the VMM console ribbon, click Create Cloud.

3. On the General page of the Create Cloud dialog box, provide a name for the cloud.

4. On the Resources page of the Create Cloud Wizard, specify the host groups or VMware resource pools that will be allocated to the private cloud. Figure 3-46 shows the MEL-HOST-GROUP allocated to the cloud.

Image

FIGURE 3-46 Resources

5. On the Logical Networks page, specify which logical networks will be included in the private cloud.

6. On the Load Balancers page, specify which load balancers will be allocated to the private cloud.

7. On the VIP Templates page, specify which VIP templates will be allocated to the private cloud.

8. On the Port Classifications page, specify which port classifications will be available to VMs deployed to the private cloud. Figure 3-47 shows all port classifications selected.

Image

FIGURE 3-47 Port Classifications

9. On the Storage page, specify which storage classifications will be assigned to the cloud. Figure 3-48 shows the Local Storage classification assigned to the cloud.

Image

FIGURE 3-48 Storage

10. On the Library page, specify the stored VM path and read-only library share information.

11. On the Capacity page, specify the capacity of the cloud in terms of Virtual CPUs, Memory, Storage, Quota Points, and Virtual Machines. Figure 3-49 shows this page where the assigned capacity, rather than the use maximum, option is selected.

Image

FIGURE 3-49 Capacity

12. On the Capability Profiles page, specify which capability profiles can be used with this cloud. Figure 3-50 shows the Hyper-V capability profile selected.

Image

FIGURE 3-50 Capability profile

13. Review the summary, and click Finish to create the private cloud.


More Info: VMM Private Clouds

You can learn more about VMM private clouds at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-au/library/gg610625.aspx.



Image Exam Tip

Remember that dynamic optimization only allows movement of virtual machines between cluster nodes in a host group. It does not allow automatic movement of VMs between non-clustered virtualization hosts.



Image Thought experiment: Host group settings at Wingtip Toys

In this thought experiment, apply what you’ve learned about this objective. You can find answers to these questions in the “Answers” section at the end of this chapter.

You are in the process of configuring host group settings for collections of Hyper-V virtualization hosts located in the Wingtip Toys Melbourne and Sydney datacenter. The virtualization hosts in the Melbourne datacenter have more powerful hardware than the virtualization hosts in Sydney, so should have different settings applied.

1. How can you apply a different set of host reserves rules for the Hyper-V hosts in Melbourne and the Hyper-V hosts in Sydney?

2. How would you make a storage pool available in the Sydney datacenter available only to Hyper-V hosts in Sydney?


Objective summary

Image Host groups allow you to simplify the management of virtualization hosts by allowing you to apply the same settings across multiple hosts.

Image Child host groups inherit settings from the parent host group.

Image Placement rules allow you to configure how VMM identifies a suitable host for a VM deployment.

Image Host reserves allow you to configure the resources that VMM should set aside for the host operating system.

Image Dynamic optimization allows virtualization host clusters to balance workloads by transferring VMs between nodes according to the settings configured at the host group level.

Image Host group networks show the networks that are assigned to the host group.

Image Through host group storage, you can allocate logical units or storage pools that are accessible to the VMM server to a specific host group.

Image In VMM, the basis of a private cloud is resources from Hyper-V hosts, VMware ESX hosts, and Citrix XenServer host, or, alternatively, a VMware resource pool.

Image A private cloud can also include logical networks, load balancers, VIP templates, port classifications, storage, VMM libraries, capacity settings, and capability profiles.

Objective review

Answer the following questions to test your knowledge of the information in this objective. You can find the answers to these questions and explanations of why each answer choice is correct or incorrect in the “Answers” section at the end of this chapter.

1. Which of the following would you configure on a host group’s properties to allocate logical units to the host group?

A. Host reserves

B. Dynamic optimization

C. Placement rules

D. Host group storage

2. You have a host group that contains five 8-node Hyper-V failover clusters. You want to ensure that VMs are moved off nodes that are under resource pressure and onto nodes that are not under as much resource duress. Which of the following would you configure on a host group’s properties to accomplish this goal?

A. Host group storage

B. Placement rules

C. Dynamic optimization

D. Host reserves

3. Which of the following should you configure at the host group level to ensure that enough RAM is available to run the virtualization host operating system?

A. Host group storage

B. Host reserves

C. Dynamic optimization

D. Placement rules

Answers

This section contains the solutions to the thought experiments and answers to the objective review questions in this chapter.

Objective 3.1: Thought Experiment

1. The answer will depend on the scheme you develop. If you’ve reviewed all of the question, you know that you have to leave room for a classification to indicate that there may be better storage available in future. You could choose Gold here, and use Platinum with question four.

2. The classification for this storage should indicate that the performance is below that of the directly attached solid-state disk array

3. The classification for this storage should indicate that the performance is below the solid-state disk array, the Fibre Channel RAID 5 SAS, and the mirrored iSCSI storage.

4. Depending on what you chose, it would have to be thematically consistent with the other classifications. That means that if you chose Gold/Silver/Bronze/Tin that this would be something like Platinum, rather than Alpha or A1

Objective 3.1: Review

1. Correct answer: D

A. Incorrect: Available capacity requires a storage pool, which is available either through a SAN device or a Scale-Out File Server.

B. Incorrect: Writable snapshot of a virtual disk requires block-level storage, either through a SAN device or a Scale-Out File Server.

C. Incorrect: Clone of a virtual disk requires block-level storage, either through a SAN device or a Scale-Out File Server.

D. Correct: File level storage is available on SMB 3.0 file shares. You can deploy this type of storage when you haven’t deployed block-level storage.

2. Correct answer: A and D

A. Correct: Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 support SMB 3.0, which is required when providing file share storage for use by VMM.

B. Incorrect: SMB 3.0 support is required for a file server to be able to provide storage to VMM. Windows Server 2008 R2 doesn’t support SMB 3.0

C. Incorrect: SMB 3.0 support is required for a file server to be able to provide storage to VMM. Windows Server 2003 doesn’t support SMB 3.0.

D. Correct: Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 support SMB 3.0, which is required when providing file share storage for use by VMM.

3. Correct answer: B and C

A. Incorrect: Logical units are created on storage pools, not file shares.

B. Correct: The storage array must support thin provisioning to use it to create thin provisioned logical units.

C. Correct: The storage administrator must have enabled thin provisioning before it can be used with VMM.

D. Incorrect: Cluster shared volumes are not required for thin provisioned logical units.

Objective 3.2: Thought experiment

1. You would use network virtualization to meet the goal of allowing VMs from different tenants to use the same local IP address.

2. You would deploy Windows Server Gateway to allow access from remote client sites to VMs hosted on the failover cluster where network virtualization is implemented.

Objective 3.2: Review

1. Correct answer: C

A. Incorrect: A logical network is a collection of network sites, VLAN information, and IP subnet information.

B. Incorrect: A logical switch stores network adapter configuration settings for use with VMM managed virtualization hosts.

C. Correct: A VM connects to a VMM logical network through a virtual machine network.

D. Incorrect: The MAC address pool is a range of MAC addresses that is allocated so that no two VMs use the same MAC address.

2. Correct answer: C

A. Incorrect: The virtual machine networks in this logical network are routable to one another and can be used as a single connected network. Although you can use network virtualization, this requires more administrative effort than using a PVLAN network.

B. Incorrect: The VLAN network type supports a maximum of 4096 clients in isolated configurations.

C. Correct: The PVLAN logical network type supports more than 4096 tenants in an isolated configuration.

D. Incorrect: The MAC address pool is a range of MAC addresses that are allocated so that no two VMs use the same MAC address. You can’t use it to ensure network isolation.

3. Correct answer: A

A. Correct: The MAC address pool is a range of MAC addresses that is allocated so that no two VMs use the same MAC address.

B. Incorrect: A logical network is a collection of network sites, VLAN information, and IP subnet information.

C. Incorrect: A logical switch stores network adapter configuration settings for use with VMM managed virtualization hosts.]

D. Incorrect: A VM connects to a VMM logical network through a virtual machine network.

Objective 3.3: Thought Experiment

1. You will need to run the configuration wizard and perform an initial synchronization before attempting integration from VMM.

2. The Run As account must be a member of the local Administrators group on MEL-WSUS.adatum.internal.

Objective 3.3: Review

1. Correct answer: D

A. Incorrect: A capability profile is used with a VM. You use a physical computer profile with bare metal chassis deployment.

B. Incorrect: A guest OS profile is used with a VM. You use a physical computer profile with bare metal chassis deployment.

C. Incorrect: A hardware profile is used with a VM. You use a physical computer profile with bare metal chassis deployment.

D. Correct: You must create a physical computer profile before you can deploy an OS to a bare metal chassis from VMM.

2. Correct answer: D

A. Incorrect: 80, WSUS deployed on Windows Server 2012 R2 and configured to use SSL uses port 8531.

B. Incorrect: 443, WSUS deployed on Windows Server 2012 R2 and configured to use SSL uses port 8531.

C. Incorrect: 8530, WSUS deployed on Windows Server 2012 R2 and configured to use SSL uses port 8531. Port 8530 is used for non-secure traffic.

D. Correct: 8531, WSUS deployed on Windows Server 2012 R2 and configured to use SSL uses port 8531.

3. Correct answer: D

A. Incorrect: The PXE boot image is stored on the WDS server.

B. Incorrect: You do not perform captures using a WDS server in a VMM deployment.

C. Incorrect: When preparing a physical computer profile, you need a virtual hard disk with a Sysprepped image.

D. Correct: The Sysprepped virtual hard disk must be present on the VMM library server when creating a physical computer profile.

Objective 3.4: Thought experiment

1. Place the Hyper-V hosts in Melbourne in one host group, and place the Hyper-V hosts from Sydney in another host group.

2. You’d configure the Sydney host group’s storage settings and specify the Sydney storage pool.

Objective 3.4: Review

1. Correct answer: D

A. Incorrect: Host reserves allow you to reserve a minimum amount of hardware resources for the host operating system.

B. Incorrect: Dynamic optimization allows you to configure thresholds that will trigger workloads to be moved between nodes in a Hyper-V failover cluster.

C. Incorrect: Placement rules allow you to specify rules that determine whether a VM is eligible to be placed on host or host cluster within a host group

D. Correct: Host group storage allows you to allocate logical units or storage pools that are accessible to the VMM server to the host group.

2. Correct answer: C

A. Incorrect: Host group storage allows you to allocate logical units or storage pools that are accessible to the VMM server to the host group.

B. Incorrect: Placement rules allow you to specify rules that determine whether a VM is eligible to be placed on host or host cluster within a host group. It does not trigger automatic VM movement.

C. Correct: Dynamic optimization allows you to configure thresholds that will trigger workloads to be moved between nodes in a Hyper-V failover cluster.

D. Incorrect: Host reserves allow you to reserve a minimum amount of hardware resources for the host operating system.

3. Correct answer: B

A. Incorrect: Host group storage allows you to allocate logical units or storage pools that are accessible to the VMM server to the host group.

B. Correct: Host reserves allow you to reserve a minimum amount of hardware resources for the host operating system.

C. Incorrect: Dynamic optimization allows you to configure thresholds that will trigger workloads to be moved between nodes in a Hyper-V failover cluster.

D. Incorrect: Placement rules allow you to specify rules that determine whether a VM is eligible to be placed on host or host cluster within a host group. It does not trigger automatic VM movement.